Page 8 of An Irish Hope

The music continued, the noise adding to the reasons why they had booked out the hotel. Too bad if the two guests were still here. She hoped they were far away.

She caught up with more family and friends, then found Rory again. “What’s got you looking so excited? Are you actually going to try the Whitney song?” “I Will Always Love You” had to be one of the best songs ever. And a real accomplishment for anyone who could hit all the notes.

“Oh! That’s actually a good idea. But not what’s got me excited.”

“Then…?”

Rory’s eyes were aglow. “Can you keep a secret?”

Probably not. “I’ll try. What is it? Has Aidan asked you to marry him?”

Rory blinked. “Um, no. But he’s speaking to Mam about it right now, and I really hope he’ll ask me soon.”

“Right now?” She glanced at where Aidan and Mam were talking earnestly. “Mam is smiling, so that has to be a good thing.”

“Right?”

Aisling hugged her. “I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks. I can’t believe it’s happening.”

Whoa. Her heart dipped. As exciting as this was, it might mean something else that was less exciting. “Does this mean you’ll live in Australia?”

“I haven’t dared think about that yet. But this seeing each other in person only rarely is growing really old.”

Maybe this was her way of finding out the answer to her question. “You’re sure he’s the one?”

“One hundred percent.”

“How did you know?”

“Look, I know a lot of people don’t believe in love at first sight, but it felt like that to me. And maybe now I know a little bit more about what love actually means it wasn’t love so much as instant awareness that this other human was meant to be mine.”

Aisling shivered. She couldn’t put it better herself.

“But you know this. I’ve told you this before. Why are you asking?”

She swallowed. It was one thing to experience it. It was another thing to admit it. “Look, I just had this really weird experience earlier.”

“When you ripped your dress?”

“No, before that.” She explained about the man in the window, who just so happened to be the man she ran into. “And now I don’t know what to think. I felt this really strange sensation, and yet I’m still annoyed with him for wrecking my dress, and now I’m so confused. Because I don’t really feel like this can be a real thing if I feel this way.”

Rory laughed softly. “Come on, you remember me and Aidan at the beginning, and how that took some time for us to sort things out. I think I must have felt much the same as you, not sure what this feeling was, and whether I liked him or loathed him. It was like I was denying my feelings by going to the opposite extreme.”

Aisling nodded. Rory and Aidan’s connection had been super-fast, and there were times when she and Mam and Colin had wondered if it would last. But here they were nearly a year on, and talking forever commitments and things. So who was to say that love—or at least like—at first sight couldn’t develop into something deep and true and real?

Rory pressed a finger to her chin. “Wait. I remember Mam saying something about that guest and why she let him come, even though we closed off our bookings to everyone else. Now, what was it?”

Her heart thudded in anticipation. “It must’ve been a good reason.”

Rory’s eyes widened. “I remember! Oh.” Her face softened. “He’s the one whose wedding got cancelled, because his bride-to-be ran off with one of his friends just before the wedding.”

Aisling winced. “Ouch.” Poor man.

“Exactly. And they’d already paid for the wedding and the honeymoon, which was all supposed to be here. And because it was such late notice and we couldn’t rebook we could only give them back fifty percent.”

“When was this supposed to happen?” Aisling asked.